78BMM TIL about the "Phantom of Heilbronn," a mysterious female serial killer suspect who baffled German police for years, until it turned out the DNA evidence was contaminated by factory workers making the cotton swabs used in forensic tests.
kJgV5 TIL Uday Hussein was a big fan of Star Wars and he made the fighters of the Fedayeen Saddam wear helmets inspired by Darth Vader’s
EgvKo TIL the UK tried to ban raves in 1994, with an act criminalizing gatherings where '"music" includes sounds wholly or predominantly characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats.'
Y7E8x TIL of Turki bin Abdulaziz al-Jasser - a journalist that ran a twitter account for informing Saudi citizens about local corruption and human rights. He was publicly executed for these 'crimes' 3 weeks ago
BgGKy TIL Coin reeded edges were originally introduced to prevent coin clipping/ to stop shaving bits off
rNMBd TIL in 2014 a Dutch woman was ID'd as one of the babies born in prison and kidnapped during Argentina’s military dictatorship between 1976 and 1983
NXOnb TIL only one Navy ship in active duty have sank an enemy ship: USS Constitution. (also the oldest active Navy ship)
l7geK TIL that in 2003 Iraqi Insurgents attempted to shoot down a European Air Transport Airbus A300 cargo plane flying from Baghdad to Bahrain, but ultimately failed when the plane was able to return to Baghdad and land with severe damage. The firing of the missle was all caught on camera!
P1VWg TIL the first known surviving nonuplets (9 children) were born in Morocco in 2021.
8eYKG TIL recording sound on magnetic wires was used before magnetic tapes in the early 1900s, and use of magnetic wires persisted into the 1960s for recorders designed for stealth use, including one with a microphone disguised as a wristwatch
VBrV0 TIL that actor Joe Spinell was hired to play a hitman in The Godfather and Francis Ford Coppola liked him so much that he hired him on as a day player for 6 months of shooting. He wound up being the second highest paid actor in the film after Marlon Brando
epvW6 TIL One of the few recorded deaths resulting from a professional tennis match was a line judge that got hit in the groin by a serve. It knocked him backward out of his chair, hitting his head on the court. After that, line judges were no longer allowed to sit during play